Review by Don SloanIn Damascena, author Holly Payne writes so beautifully, you’ll want to cry.The storyline follows a young girl from her tortured birth in a monastery through her adolescence, as she becomes a reluctant seer and saint — through no effort of her own. The imagery of roses — their scent and ability to heal — permeates this tale from start to finish Damascena is raised by a monk named Ivan Balev, who is himself a tortured soul. The story centers — in the first part of the book, anyway — on the love-hate relationship between Ivan and Damascena. He tries to capitalize on her unique talents, and Damascena, for her part, only wants to find the mother who abandoned her so long ago.

There are many rivalries in sport: England and Australia, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Brazil and Argentina. But arguably the fiercest of all rivalries occurs in the north-east – a rivalry that pits the black and white of Newcastle against the red and white of Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear Derby. The history of this rivalry stretches back many, many years, since the two sides first met in 1883, with many different flashpoints along the way.

Why Such a Rivalry?

As with many rivalries in sport, the rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland stems from events outside of sport. This is because the two areas have been at loggerheads well before football was even invented. The main reason why such a schism was drawn between the two towns? The English Civil War. Royalist Newcastle was seen to have many unfair advantages over the merchants of Sunderland, causing Sunderland to become a major stronghold for Parliamentarians in the north-east. This opposition to each other continued into the Jacobite Rebellions and the rest, as they say, is history…